Watched my grocery bill drop from $140 to $78 a week after I started cooking one big pot of beans every Sunday
I soak a $1.29 bag of pinto beans overnight, throw them in the crockpot with an onion and some cumin, and that plus rice and whatever meat is marked down carries my lunches and two dinners all week, so what cheap base meals are you all batch cooking that stretch further than mine?
Your freezer is the real money saver here, not the beans themselves. Cooking one big batch and freezing half in single servings means you're not forced to eat the same thing five days straight, which is usually what makes people quit and order takeout by Wednesday. How many days in a row can you actually eat the same pot before you crack and hit a drive thru?